Thursday, July 13, 2017

Mileage at Dirty Dozen

Last weekend I ran the Dirty Dozen 12 hour race at Point Pinole Regional Park.  I went into this event not really sure about what kind of mileage I would be able to run in 12 hours, mainly because I didn't have the time available to train like I would have liked to.

I went into the event wanting to run 62 miles, but knowing that with how much time I had been devoting to running, anything over 55 miles would be a success.

As a motivator to run as far as I could, I asked my friends and those of you who read my blog to please pledge $1.00 for every mile over the 50 mile mark that I was able to run to Campaign for Free Tibet.  I'm happy to say that I was able run 60.6 miles during the 12 hour race.  This distance put me in 4th place overall, and 2nd place in my age group.  For those of you willing to make a donation you can do so at https://freetibet.org/donate

I took some video while I was running the race.  This week I should be able to get the video edited along with a more detailed blog.  I'm also going to try to get my video from American River 50 miler done (I'm a little behind since that race took place back in April).

My next event will be Headlands 100 this coming September 9th.  I'm looking forward to running this event for the 8th time.  I'm going to do my best to do weekly updates on my training.


Until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!


Friday, July 7, 2017

Tomorrow's Run (fundraiser)

Tomorrow I am running for 12 hours at the Dirty Dozen 12 hour race. As many of you know I have been a supporter of the Free Tibet Campaign for quite some time. I was wondering if some of you would be willing to donate $1.00 for every mile I run beyond the 50 mile mark. I might have a good day tomorrow and run 60+ miles... or I might have a bad day and run 40ish miles.  We will just have to see what happens.

After my race is done I'll post my mileage. 

Until tomorrow...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!

https://www.freetibet.org/donate

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Feeling Better

My left calf muscle is starting to feel better.  I ran 5.5 miles to work today, and another 5.5 miles back home.

I wish I was able to get some longer training runs in over the last few weeks, but I'm feeling o.k. about the Dirty Dozen race this coming weekend.  I'm not sure if I'll hit my goal of running over 62 miles, but I should be able to run over 50 miles... and I guess I'll just have to be happy with that.

I feel like I need to go out there this weekend and run as far as I can... but I also need to remember that I'm doing this event because it's fun and I'll get to see a few friends that I only see when I run these events.

I plan on getting a short cadence workout on my bike tomorrow, a short run on Thursday, and then just relaxing on Friday.

Hopefully everything will come together on Saturday. 

until next time

KEEP RUNNING!!!!

Monday, July 3, 2017

So Far So Good... Enough

I went for a run today and my calf didn't blow up.  I took the first mile pretty easy.  I started off with more of a shuffle than a run for the first 400 meters, and then I gradually built my pace up.  By 1.5 miles into my run I felt like everything was getting warmed up, and my original goal was to just average a 10 min mile pace over about 5-6 miles.

At mile 2 I was starting to feel a little better and I could tell that my pace was slightly picking up.  I decided to run out for 3 miles at this point since things were starting to feel pretty good, and way better that yesterday.  When I hit mile 3 my calf muscle still felt tight, it didn't feel too bad.

I decided to pick up the pace a little and see how everything would hold up.  Everything was feeling sustainable, so I decided to run a little based off my heart rate and not look at my pace at all.  I've been doing a few runs like this lately, so I already had my watch set to show just distance and heart rate on one page on the display.

Around mile 3.5 I decided to get my heart rate up to 150 bpm and to just hold it there.  I like focusing on heart rate from time to time so I can give my workouts some variety.  I was feeling pretty good holding 150 bpm and decided to move move it up to 165 bpm for the last mile.  I started to increase my effort, and it felt like it was taking a lot of work to reach 165+ bpm.  It took me .35 miles of pushing (from mile 5 to mile 5.35) to get my heart rate up to 165.  Once I got there I was able to hold it here for the rest of my run.

When I got done with my run I felt pretty good.  My calf was a little sore, but it felt ok.

I uploaded my training run onto Garmin Connect to see the stats of my run. I was very happy with my mile times, especially when I saw that I had ran negative splits too.

Mile 1 - 9:39
Mile 2 - 9:04
Mile 3 - 8:53
Mile 4 - 7:53
Mile 5 - 7:32
Mile 6 - 7:01

I think I will run decently at the Dirty Dozen race this weekend.  I just have to be smart about my recovery this week.  I will do two 4.5 mile runs tomorrow (running to work and back home) and maybe a 2 mile shake out run on Thursday.

Other than that, the rest of the week I will focus on resting, recovering, and meditating.  A rested body and clear mind will benefit me very much this weekend.

Hopefully my calf will feel fine by Saturday morning, and everything will go according to plan.


until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!


Sunday, July 2, 2017

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I've written anything on here.  I've been meaning to, but I've just fallen off for whatever reason.  I ran American River Run back in April and paced my friend Audrey at the Miwok 100k... so I have plenty to write about, I've just been a little distracted and busy I guess.  I also have video that I need to edit from both of those events.

I figured that I should jump on here tonight and write something, especially since I've had a couple people come into where I work, Fleet Feet Sports in Fresno, and ask me why I haven't updated my blog in a few months.

So, here I am... writing again.

This coming Saturday I am running the Dirty Dozen 12 hour race at Point Pinole Regional Park.  My training has not been what I would like it to be, but some training is better than no training.  In the last couple weeks my left calf muscle has been bugging me a little bit.  I was planning on going on an easy run today after work, but for some reason by the end of m shift my calf was really bothering me.  I decided to see how things would go anyway.

I walked over to Woodward Park after my shift at Fleet Feet was over.  I walked over to the hill that I planned on doing some repeats on, and my calf was feeling really tight.  I sat on a bench at the bottom of the hill and tried to massage the muscle out a little, but that didn't do me any good.  I ran about 5 feet and had to stop.  The pain in my leg was too much to handle and there was no way I would be able to safely run on it.  I sat back down for a few mins, and then decided to walk back to my car.

So, now I'm sitting here on the couch, wondering what will come of my upcoming race.  Will my leg feel better tomorrow so that I can run the 7 miles I planned on... or will it hurt?

I was actually planning on using this upcoming 12 hour run as a last minute fundraiser for the Free Tibet Campaign.  I wanted to see if I could get some friends to make a donating based on how many miles I am able to run, but now I'm not sure if I'll even be able to run.

I hope that maybe some time on my Trigger Point foam roller between today and Saturday morning will help my leg feel better, and I'm trying to stay optimistic about it.  I tend to have a high pain tolerance, so when something actually stops me from training I take it pretty seriously.

Hopefully tomorrow morning everything will feel fine if I get some good rest and foam rolling in tonight.

With a little bit of luck I'll be on here tomorrow posting about how my Monday morning run went amazing and how good my leg feels.  I guess we will just have to see what tomorrow has waiting for me.


until next time...


KEEP RUNNING!!!!